Temporarily Yours
by till-you-smile-again
Summary: 200 people died at the Phantomhive Mansion in 1572. The butler disappeared, and many considered him the suspect. But he had nothing to do with it. He was simply transformed into a temporary soul.
1. Prologue

"Patience is the key."

The mansion was enveloped with the lively overtones of a piano. The music was quick and entertaining- very suitable for the kind of event that was going on inside the glorious Phantomhive residence. It was lovely music, music to be appreciated and listened to closely, but the guests do nothing but taint it with their chatter. Ash smirked at this display of superiority- these 'guests' of the Earl Phantomhive, they use this beautiful music as a background to their incessant and useless banter. They find themselves superior- they do not know that within the same mansion, there lies 'people' that can wipe them away in seconds. He was one of those 'people'.

To Ash, this was all but an elaborate game of chess; the world was the board, the guests were the rooks, the Earl Phantomhive was the king. He was the most important piece of all- and up until now Ash had not decided if Ciel was just a piece, or the opponent which he played against. _**Up until now. **_Seeing Ciel's weakness, his _humanity, _gave Ash an adrenaline rush. Perhaps it was all too easy. But now he was sure of one thing: Ciel was not his opponent: Ciel was the king in this chess game. The thought made Ash shudder- he loved the power that he now held in his hands. Ciel was indispensable to him- and he had made sure that he will get the Earl.

The angel continued his observation. In his mind, he laughed at all the guests- in a few minutes they will lose all of their resplendence._ Look at them, ordering the Phantomhive butler around, as if they were more powerful than he is. He can kill all of them right this second- but he chooses not to. What a bored demon he is. But of course, I cannot leave him. He is, after all, the strongest of my pieces. _

Sebastian, of course, was the queen in Ash's game. The angel laughed at the thought. But it was true- Sebastian was, indeed, the strongest piece. However, in the end, he was just a tool to keep the beloved king safe.

_The queen is the strongest. Yet she will sacrifice herself for her king._

_The time has come. All is in place. The only thing left to do is to annihilate the demon. _

Ash stared directly at the butler- and the butler stared directly at him. Ash smiled that devious smile of his, as he produced a vial from his pocket. Sebastian casually walked over to where the angel stood.

"If I may ask, Mr. Landers, what is that in your hands?" Sebastian's gaze was unwavering.

"I made it especially for you, Mr. Butler," Ash uncorked the vial and let the contents pour, its crimson essence seeping into the soil. Red smoke emanated from the spilled liquid. Sebastian's face crooked in distaste.

"I would not appreciate you making a mess in the mansion, Mr. Landers. After all, I am one hell of a butler." Warily, Sebastian bent down to touch the fluid.

"_Still a butler, but not a demon_," Ash whispered.

Sebastian's eyes widened immediately as his gloved hands made contact with the crimson fluid. He let out a piercing scream- as if he was being stabbed repeatedly, as if he had a soul and it was being taken away from him. He curled up in a fetal position. His claws and horns appeared, and soon enough his tail. Ash forced himself to watch the disgusting transformation- it was to his intentions, after all.

The butler's scream could be heard throughout the entire mansion- but nobody was left to hear the sound. And in a second, the scream halted, abruptly. The demon's body was reclaimed by the dark of night. The mansion was enveloped in white smoke.

_It is done. I have swept the pieces off the board and kept them inside the box. For the meanwhile, I shall let others play with my beloved set. But soon enough, I shall be back, and I will play the most interesting game of all. _

_ That shall happen in a thousand years, to be exact. _

Ash flew away, and just then did he realize that the music was not playing anymore. Nothing was playing anymore. No chatter, no dancing. _No breathing, none at all. _His mission was a success.


	2. Finnian: Theories, Theories

Hi guys! So while I was vacationing in December various thoughts came to me and I suddenly formed a plot for a Kuro story. This story isn't the kind of story where characters have the same attitude as given by the awesome Yana Taboso, but rather, their personalities are slightly changed and I added some sort of details that were never stated in the manga or anime.

Rest assured, however, that I intend no copyright infringement, I'm just here to write, and enjoy!

I hope you do too, and please review :)

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><p>December 2011, London<p>

The television was tuned to a broadcasting of the midnight news. Finnian did not even cast a look at the screen, and he wasn't trying to understand what the broadcasters were saying. He was busy reading, and he merely used the TV as a source of light. The book in his hands was entitled _Great Mysteries of the Past_. The blonde 21 year old flipped through the book as he lay on his stomach. For him, this was the life- a book, a cup of coffee, work that started at three in the afternoon. On some nights he would go out and have some drinks and flirt around, but that was it. He liked reading more than he liked people- or to be more concise, he liked the people in books more than he liked people in real life.

A page in the book caught his eye. The article heading read 'Mysterious Death of 200 People in English Mansion'. Finnian's eyebrows furrowed. The article read as such:

_The Phantomhive family of 1500's England seemed to be a family that attracted bad luck. The family was composed of the Lord Vincent Phantomhive, his wife Rachel, and their 13-year old son and heir, Ciel. However, the lord and lady of the house were murdered brutally one night, and their son disappeared. But that was not the extent of it. The heir returned one day, wounded but very determined to bring back the glory of his parents' mansion and business. And so with the help of a butler, some servants, and the previous connections of his parents, the young earl reestablished the mansion and the family business. _

_ One night, to celebrate the success of the family business, the young earl hosted a party at the mansion. Residents around the area did not report seeing any preparations made in the days before the event, but it seemed that the party was a very important one as lovely carriages were seen on the way to the mansion that day. However, very few of these carriages seemed to be returning. _

_ Two days after the incident, the families of the guests were worried about the disappearance of their relatives, and so the police were contacted to investigate._

_ What the police found however, was no lively party- because all the guests lay about the house in their fancy ball gowns and suits, and they were not breathing. No blood was involved, and no sign of struggle was seen. It was as if suddenly the guests dropped dead, without any reason at all. _

_ All in all, about 200 bodies were found throughout the house, most of them prominent figures at that time, including the 13-year old Ciel Phantomhive._

_ Police suspected food poisoning, but it was found later that dinner had not been served yet and that the guests showed no signs of such. Police moved on to the possibility that there was a group that wanted to end the glorious Phantomhive family. If that is the truth, then the group succeeded._

_ One point that was never brought about, however, was that the body of the Phantomhive butler was never found. The butler was a tall, thin, attractive man that was always seen wherever the Earl went. However, no information could be found about the butler. It seemed that he appeared out of nowhere, like the Earl did. But according to the police, his body was not found. _

_ This leads us to think: Where did the butler go? Was he a spy? And perhaps, more importantly: Was the butler responsible for the death of the earl he promised to serve loyally? _

_ We shall never know. _

Finnian shuddered. He put himself in the shoes of the Earl- what was it like to be killed by your own butler? The Earl was an orphan- and his butler killed him. It was almost the same as if you were killed by your father.

But Finnian shook his head. _No, it was not stated that the butler killed the Earl. It is only what one might assume. But still, where did he go? A butler should stay with his master's side at all times- especially in death._

__That was one of his pastimes: making his own theories about mysteries, be it murder or even simply spontaneous combustion. He believes that reapers come and go, deciding what death a person should have. Perhaps this was due to his addiction to the anime Death Note, but that was what Finny is: He's a believer.

Another thought came to Finnian_: What if, as the article suggested, the guests just dropped dead all of a sudden? Like their souls were suddenly reaped by a greedy soul reaper? Or they were claimed by an unknown epidemic? Like Poe's Red Death? _

_ But that would mean the butler would have been taken too. Unless… the butler was the Red Death. _

The blonde's body shook quite violently, creeped out by his own theories. _This is fantastic_, he thought, _I must get more information about it_.

As a child Finnian loved mysteries, the occult, and the supernatural. He loved Edgar Allan Poe's stories, the work of Agatha Christie, and the entire Sherlock Holmes lineup. He grew up in a family with an average income, but his father kept such books around the house, which Finnian's mind gladly ate up. It gave him great pleasure to read such interesting stories. He believed fervently in these stories, and lived his life wishing to see even just a single ghost (albeit he's never seen one in his 21 years). How could he have missed such an interesting story as this one?

_Maybe the butler was not the Red Death,_ Finnian decided, _he was a butler after all, and I think he liked the earl well enough if he helped the earl reestablish the business._

_ Maybe another Red Death, or in other terms, a reaper, took all the souls and kept the butler alive. Perhaps the Red Death took a liking to the butler. He was an attractive butler, the article said. _

Finnian laughed at his newest theory. He imagined a gay reaper wearing red clothes. It was instilled in his mind that reapers are men, so a female reaper was impossible to him.

But a gay reaper was even more improbable. Especially one that would take a liking to a butler.

_I must be tired. Red-headed gay reapers do not exist. Reapers do not fall for anything. They are reapers, after all. _

Finnian simply brushed the thought away. He folded the ear of the page, and he flipped himself over, silently falling into a peaceful sleep.

In the distance, a red-headed reaper had the slightest feeling that someone was thinking about him. He silently hoped that it was a handsome young man, preferably a butler.

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><p>Thank you for reading! I haven't established an update day but I hope I fall into some sort of schedule. But please review and write what you think happened to Sebastian and the others, if you'd like :) Thankies :)<p> 


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